“For long, many artists have asked me where they can see old dance greats through archival films. Where the dance fraternity can meet and exchange ideas about patronage, teaching standards, books etc. In Alliance Francaise’s gracious and enlightened patronage, I found a perfect host, so we are all giving our most!” said Khokar.

Dancers, critics, promoters, patrons, teachers, thinkers — the who’s who of the dance world — gathered and had a most exhilarating dance experience. A Century of Male Dancing, the film compiled by Ashish Khokar from his family archives, which are India’s largest on dance history, was featured and showcased last 100 years through such iconic figures as Ram Gopal, Uday Shankar, Birju Maharaj, Kelucharan Mohapatra among others.

Bangalore dancers Padmini Ravi, Madhu Natraj,  Dr Shridhar, Kiran Subramaniam, Satyanarayan Raju, Seshadri Iyengar, Murlimohan, Praveen Kumar, Tushar Bhatt, B P Sweekruth participated, while Orissi dancers Madhulita Mohapatra, Sharmila Biswas, and Kuchipudi dancer Gururaj of Vyjayanthi Kashi School and many others enjoyed and interacted.

Chiranjiv Singh, president of Alliance Francaise, who provided the space said, “it was to Bangalore’s credit and gain that a nationally reputed scholar Ashish Khokar is based here and doing much for dancers.” Critics like M Suryaprasad spoke on role on critic while Ashish himself being a critic played the role of sutradhar.
If films showed our dance past, the present was discussed by expert panelists comprising of promoters, patrons Ananya Raghavendra among others. That Bangalore is fast emerging as a meeting point for all dance forms was stresses by choreographer Madhu Nataraj. The evening ended with interactive session where audiences could ask questions and learn directly from experts. The next event on August 21 is on choreography.